For the House; Against the House: Life Imitates Art is an art exhibition that looks at the evolution of Singapore's arts and cultural landscape through a unique debate format where art illustrates the arguments. Held during the Singapore Art Week 2022, the artworks serve as propositions and oppositions, charting Singapore’s path towards a "cultural renaissance". Audiences get the final vote on the role art has had to play in shaping Singapore's national identity today through a unique physical voting mechanism, whereby they contribute red or blue bricks towards building a cityscape, on whether they believe that ‘life imitates art’, or ‘art imitates life’. We designed an exhibition catalogue that provides a comprehensive introduction to the exhibition and the artwork on display. It includes essays, curator notes and interviews that help provide context and insight into the artworks and the unique debate format of the exhibition, as well as its Singaporean cultural context that guides the exhibition.


We drew inspiration from the voting mechanism used in the physical exhibition, and that the design of the exhibition publication should serve as an extension of the unique debate format of the exhibition by refurbishing these bricks that were used for voting towards the design of its cover. The duality of the red and blue bricks on the cover are arranged in a mosaic patterned background that is unique and visually exciting, drawing the reader in. When the book is opened, the reader is greeted with crisp white pages and clean, easy-to-read text juxtaposed with proposition and opposition statements in red and blue alongside artwork imagery. The overall effect is a book that is both visually striking and easy to read, making it a pleasure to hold and to browse.